Bargain Battery Charger
Discussion
Quick heads up. LIDL are doing their car parts stuff again starting next Thursday (13th). For anyone who doesn't know already, their 'Ultimate Speed' battery charger @£12.99 is a rebadged clone of the CTEK battery charger that Porsche also rebadge and sell for considerably more. Probably the best value you will find anywhere, the charger has a automatic desulphation mode for completely flat batteries as well as auto switching to trickle charge when a battery is full. Excellent for keeping your garaged classic/lawnmower battery in top-top condition or reviving that old spare battery you threw into the back of the garage and forgot about.
PS. I don't work for them. Just that I bought one of these about four years ago and everyone I have ever loaned it to since has asked me where I got it and then spent £40 on the CTEK version because LIDL weren't selling them at the time. Stocks won't last!
PS. I don't work for them. Just that I bought one of these about four years ago and everyone I have ever loaned it to since has asked me where I got it and then spent £40 on the CTEK version because LIDL weren't selling them at the time. Stocks won't last!
Edited by r11co on Thursday 6th January 20:08
Puddenchucker said:
So what is it? A rebadged CTEK (like the Porsche one)
As I said - this!The latest one they are selling is actually rebadge of a higher spec. one than Porsche use (the 3600), although that will have something to do with the fact that Porsche don't need the 6v charging option that the LIDL one offers.....
The casing is finished in self-coloured rather than silver painted plastic and is a simpler moulding (this is where the cost savings have been made) but I have it on good authority from several sources that these chargers are being made under licence in the same factory as manufactures them for (and with the approval of) CTEK.
Edited by r11co on Thursday 6th January 20:30
r11co said:
As I said - this!
The latest one they are selling is actually rebadge of a higher spec. one than Porsche use (the 3600), although that will have something to do with the fact that Porsche don't need the 6v charging option that the LIDL one offers.....
The casing is finished in self-coloured rather than silver painted plastic and is a simpler moulding (this is where the cost savings have been made) but I have it on good authority from several sources that these chargers are being made under licence in the same factory as manufactures them for (and with the approval of) CTEK.
Just bought one of these to charge a Golf TDi thats off the road for 6 mths. Problem I am having is as the battery is quite discharged (7.5 volts) when I press the mode switch on the Ultimate it shows 6 volt setting red LED, and green charge LED on for about 2 mins then goes off. I am now havng to use different cherger to get the volts up above 7 volts as I thnk it is seeing this as a 6 volt battery. Does this sound right or am I doing something wrong with the Mode switch?The latest one they are selling is actually rebadge of a higher spec. one than Porsche use (the 3600), although that will have something to do with the fact that Porsche don't need the 6v charging option that the LIDL one offers.....
The casing is finished in self-coloured rather than silver painted plastic and is a simpler moulding (this is where the cost savings have been made) but I have it on good authority from several sources that these chargers are being made under licence in the same factory as manufactures them for (and with the approval of) CTEK.
Edited by r11co on Thursday 6th January 20:30
If so this is no use for discharged batteries unless volts are in the range 10 to 12 volts.
chrish said:
r11co said:
As I said - this!
The latest one they are selling is actually rebadge of a higher spec. one than Porsche use (the 3600), although that will have something to do with the fact that Porsche don't need the 6v charging option that the LIDL one offers.....
The casing is finished in self-coloured rather than silver painted plastic and is a simpler moulding (this is where the cost savings have been made) but I have it on good authority from several sources that these chargers are being made under licence in the same factory as manufactures them for (and with the approval of) CTEK.
Just bought one of these to charge a Golf TDi thats off the road for 6 mths. Problem I am having is as the battery is quite discharged (7.5 volts) when I press the mode switch on the Ultimate it shows 6 volt setting red LED, and green charge LED on for about 2 mins then goes off. I am now havng to use different cherger to get the volts up above 7 volts as I thnk it is seeing this as a 6 volt battery. Does this sound right or am I doing something wrong with the Mode switch?The latest one they are selling is actually rebadge of a higher spec. one than Porsche use (the 3600), although that will have something to do with the fact that Porsche don't need the 6v charging option that the LIDL one offers.....
The casing is finished in self-coloured rather than silver painted plastic and is a simpler moulding (this is where the cost savings have been made) but I have it on good authority from several sources that these chargers are being made under licence in the same factory as manufactures them for (and with the approval of) CTEK.
Edited by r11co on Thursday 6th January 20:30
If so this is no use for discharged batteries unless volts are in the range 10 to 12 volts.
I had this with my Lidl / Aldi charger on a very flat battery from a car that'd been left out in the cold.
I just persevered with it. It kept switching back to "Charged" after a few minutes even though it was quite blatantly not charged. But I bought the battery in the house and just kept pressing the button the charger for a while until it eventually got over whatever problem it was having and started to charge it properly.
I just persevered with it. It kept switching back to "Charged" after a few minutes even though it was quite blatantly not charged. But I bought the battery in the house and just kept pressing the button the charger for a while until it eventually got over whatever problem it was having and started to charge it properly.
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